The latest statistics are shocking.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week that there were 3,613,647 births registered in the United States in 2020 and that 1,464,121 of these—or 40.5 percent–were to unmarried mothers. Nearly one-and-a-half-million boys and girls growing up without a father. Over the next ten years that translates to 15 million kids.
That translates to sorrow, trouble, and replication.
Equally as troubling is this new figure: 42% of all births were to mom’s on Medicaid. In other words likely unemployed and on the government dole. That’s over one-and-a-half-million kids in the pipeline to become cradle to grave welfare recipients.
Dr. David Popenoe, Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University and Co-Director of the National Marriage Project, has provided us with a good summary and overview of the subject. Here’s what he has to say:
Fathers are far more than just “second adults” in the home. Involved fathers – especially biological fathers – bring positive benefits to their children that no other person is as likely to bring. They provide protection and economic support and male role models. They have a parenting style that is significantly different from that of a mother and that difference is important in healthy child development.David Popenoe, Life Without Father, (New York: The Free Press, 1996), p. 163.
I have a lot more to say about this in Episode 115 of the Brian Sussman Show Podcast.